Drake debuts new short film as Apple Music exclusive

Mainstream rapper Drake on Monday released a 23-minute film -- Please Forgive Me -- as an Apple Music exclusive, further cementing his close business ties with Apple.

The movie was shot in Johannesburg, South Africa's Soweto township, and features several tracks from the album Views, including "One Dance," "Controlla," and the title song. The plot involves a rich man offering Drake and his girlfriend -- played by a Belgian model, Fanny Neguesha -- $1 million in an Indecent Proposal-style scenario. The pair decide to escape with the money instead.

The film is free to watch with or without an Apple Music susbscription. Notably, it was originally supposed to debut Sept. 30, but was released today for reasons unknown.

Although his music is available on other services like Spotify, Drake has become increasingly tied to Apple Music. He appeared on stage during the announcement of the service, and Views was a one-week Apple exclusive. Drake's record label, OVO Sound, has a show on Beats 1 radio. Recently Apple signed a deal to offer exclusives from Cash Money Records, which counts Drake among its stable of artists. Apple funded the video for "Hotline Bling," using that leverage to make it a brief Apple Music exclusive.

The company has often wielded exclusives as one of its primary weapons in on-demand music streaming. It's already up to 17 million subscribers -- though it's still well behind Spotify, which has 40 million paid customers plus many more using its free ad-based tier.